“These are good programs,” LCC President Mary Spilde said Tuesday. “They just don’t have as much demand as some of our other programs, so we have to set priorities.”

Spilde recommends that the LCC board cut the programs because of a mix of low enrollment and few post-school employment prospects. Eliminating the programs would result in the loss of 14 jobs at LCC — including eight faculty, four classified employees and two managers.

The board will hold a meeting to discuss the proposed cuts Wednesday to hear from students, staff and the public. The meeting is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in Building 19 on the main LCC campus, 4000 E. 30th Ave.

Supporters of the early childhood education program plan to hold a rally at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, starting at the Lane Child and Family Center and marching to the meeting. The center would not lose funding under the president’s proposed cuts, but it no longer would have student teachers, said Amy Unfred, a center teacher.

“It would be a temporary savings, and it would be detrimental to our community’s future,” said Unfred, one of the organizers of the rally.

Spilde also has suggested that LCC eliminate its honors program and the Successful Aging Institute, as well as some religion and philosophy classes and workforce development services.

The LCC Career Center would remain open, even if the potential cuts to workforce development services are adopted.

Along with the cuts, LCC President Mary Spilde proposes that the board increase tuition $5 per credit hour.

She said a typical LCC student takes 10 credits each quarter, so the tuition bump would increase the cost of going to school by $50 each term.

A combination of decreasing student enrollment and declining state financial support created LCC’s budget gap, Spilde said. LCC had 9,250 students enrolled in 2015-16 compared with more than 15,000 five years ago.

“We can’t keep doing things that we can’t afford to do,” Spilde said. “As a public institution, we have to have a balanced budget.”

The board is set to meet five more times in the next two months, with its proposed budget due to be released in late April.